
The pacing is a bit sluggish, but the acting is fine, and the special effects are pretty good. Along the way, he has to confront the worst of what the planet has to offer, as well as a nasty alien he and Cypher had been carrying in transit. But the crash leaves Cypher with two broken legs, so to save their lives, Kitai is sent to locate the lost beacon that can summon their rescue. Cypher is a legendary general and a strict disciplinarian to his field-shy son. We address these fears through the eyes of Kitai (Jaden Smith), who crash-lands on Earth with his father Cypher (Will Smith, Jaden’s real-life father) more than 1,000 years after mankind’s follies left its home planet uninhabitable. Night Shyamalan’s own take on our dystopian destiny, and a well-intentioned if obvious attempt to address the nature of our fears. In recent months, we’ve flown around an abandoned earth with Tom Cruise in “ Oblivion,” and watched the human population enslaved by glowing parasitic caterpillars in “ The Host.” Coming up next month, “ World War Z” will give us the newest angle on the zombie apocalypse.Īmid all this comes “ After Earth,” director M. If Hollywood’s recent products are any indication, the future of the human race is grim.
